


Numbers

by KaytheJay



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:22:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21872155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaytheJay/pseuds/KaytheJay
Summary: Phil has seen numbers indicating how dangerous a person is his whole life. He's never met anyone over a 7. Until he met Dan.
Kudos: 3





	Numbers

All his life, Phil had seen numbers above people’s heads. Eventually, he’d figured out that the numbers were indicators of how dangerous a person was. It was based on how old they were, their level of training, and a variety of other things that he probably wasn’t even aware of. Most people he came across had about a five. Some were one or two points above, some one or two points below. Never anything too scary. Nothing above a seven.  
It had gotten to a point that he’d thought that a seven was the highest a person could score, but that seemed silly. That would make everyone more dangerous than seemed reasonable. Everyone at a 5/7? No. That just didn’t make any sense.  
And he was right. Seven wasn’t the highest a person could be.  
Phil met someone with an angry ten floating over their head.  
Well, he didn’t meet the man, not at first. Phil’d seen him walk into his office, but Phil tried to stay as far away as possible. This man was very possibly a serial killer and Phil wasn’t aware of it. He wanted to get more information on the guy before he came to any conclusions. This was, after all, the first time he’d met a ten. Maybe there was more to it than met the eye. But he didn’t want to take any chances getting stabbed.  
The man didn’t seem too intimidating. Of course, he was tall, but that really didn’t say much. He himself was fairly tall, but he was only ranked at a two, which was why he’d figured out that height wasn’t a factor in the numbers. But other than his height, this man seemed fairly average. He didn’t have any strange scars, tattoos, or bulges where a weapon might be hidden. He didn’t have that evil glint in his eye that most people ranked above a six seemed to have. He was just a tall guy with dark curly hair and dark eyes. There didn’t seem to be anything dangerous about him. Phil scanned him once more before deciding to walk over to the strange man. He had to know why he was ranked so deadly. He was positive this man didn’t have any weapons on him.  
“Hi, my name is Phil,” Phil introduced himself to the man. The man looked him up and down. Phil felt his stomach knot, but he tried not to show it. He had to know what made this man so dangerous. The system didn’t hand out tens to just anyone.  
“Dan,” the stranger said carefully, almost as if he were nervous for what was to come. Phil had a hard time keeping his eyes on Dan rather than the glowing ten above his head.  
“So, do you have any training in fighting?” Phil asked, instantly regretting it because he knew it was an odd question to ask. He’d figured out years ago that no one else saw the numbers.  
“No?” Dan tensed, his eyes shooting around the room wildly. “What do you want from me? Are you a cop because I can assure you that I haven’t done anything.” Phil shook his head.  
“Not a cop,” Phil replied. “Just a person.” Dan didn’t ease. Dan’s eyes flicked to something above Phil’s head. He sees the numbers too, he thought. Dan shook his head and muttered something under his breath that Phil didn’t quite catch.  
“I asked you another question,” Dan shot back. “What do you want from me?” Phil shrugged.  
“Nothing really. I just want to talk.” Dan’s eyes went up to something above Phil’s head. He shook his head.  
“Fine, as long as it’s just that, I guess.” Phil smiled.  
“Great.”  
Phil lead Dan into another room and offered him a chair. Dan declined, though Phil could tell that Dan did want to sit down, so Phil brought over a chair anyway. Phil walked around Dan once more, trying to read him.  
“My full name is Dr. Philip Lester, maybe you’ve heard of me?” Phil asked. Dan didn’t respond. “I am a doctor of psychology. For the last ten years, I have been conducting a study about what makes a person dangerous. You, sir, are something I have never seen before.”  
“What do you mean?” Dan asked. “You don’t know anything about me besides my name.” Dan’s eyes flicked to something above Phil’s head.  
“I know you see the numbers too. Every person is ranked one to ten based on how dangerous they are.” Dan looked taken aback. This seemed odd. Dan very clearly saw something too, but it must not be what he thought. “Anyway,” Phil said. “You are the first ten that I have ever seen in all of my years of study. I would like to ask you, will you participate in my study?”  
Dan tried to figure out what this was. Of course, he wasn’t dangerous. Why would this man think he was rated at a ten. Still, Phil had been right. He did see numbers. He just didn’t think it had anything to do with danger. Phil was rated fairly high, and the number had gone up ever since he’d been speaking. Dan had never before seen someone’s number go up. If it stood for what Phil said it did, that was a horrible, horrible thing to be part of and he probably needed to run. Somehow, he felt like he didn’t see the same kinds of numbers that Phil did. The number seemed too angelic and pure for it to be dangerous.  
“What would I have to do for this study?” Dan asked. Phil nodded.  
“Oh yes. That’s nothing too difficult. I am just going to ask you a few questions to try and figure out how this system works and why you specifically are ranked so high.” Dan shrugged.  
“I guess I can do that.” Phil smiled.  
“Wonderful.”  
Once Phil had gotten through the questionnaire, he still couldn’t decide how the hell this Dan guy was so dangerous. He’d never spent time in jail. Never commited so much as a pirating crime. He had no experience with weapons. Phil took another look at the glaring red number hanging above Dan’s head. It didn’t make sense. This man was rated at a ten, the highest he’d ever seen. So far, his study had shown that he had been correct in the assumption that the numbers meant danger. At least, everyone else he’d met had numbers that he probably would have ranked them with after having all of their information. But with what Dan had given him, there was none of that. Nothing that justified a ten rating.  
Why was he having such a hard time with this? This was the find of a lifetime and he was just throwing it away. Maybe he wasn’t asking the right questions? But what else could a person be dangerous with? Dan clearly wasn’t a master of any weapons and Phil was certain he wasn’t a manipulator or anything like that. He sighed and walked back out to where Dan sat.  
“What brought you into my office today,” Phil decided to ask. He had clearly failed and was going to need to reevaluate what the numbers meant. His life’s work. All wasteful.  
“Well, you were my last chance at anything,” Dan said. “No one else has believed me.” This perked Phil’s interest.  
“Believed you for what exactly?”  
“I have depression,” Dan said bluntly. “This I’m sure about. And I’ve been very suicidal lately.” This, this seemed relevant to the study, so Phil pulled out a notebook and began taking notes. “I have a plan and everything. But there’s a small part of me that’s screaming for me to stay alive, so I figure I should listen to that voice. Just a little bit. At least, ease up any regrets I might have.”  
So that’s what it is, Phil thought to himself. Suicide. How had he never thought of that? Of course mental health could be more dangerous than anything else, especially when struggling with suicide.  
Phil listened to Dan through the rest of the session, probably cutting into someone else’s time, but he just wanted to get Dan the help that he obviously needed. He prescribed a common amount of a common antidepressant to help get Dan on his feet a little bit better than he was already. He recommended a few therapists that were in the area that would also be able to help him.  
But he insisted that, should it arise again, he imediatly call either the suicide hotline or 999 so he could get support.  
Dan’s number dropped from ten to nine by the time he walked out of the office, and the nine was beginning to fade.

**Author's Note:**

> Hits and kudos mean the world to me. Comments fuel me into next week.   
> Find me on Tumblr @lesbaphannie


End file.
